Why I Love and Loathe Christmas

Now, bear with me on this one as I know a lot of you out there are die hard Christmas fans, but I can kind of take or leave Christmas. I know, I know, it's the 'most wonderful time of the year' and don't get me wrong, I do like some aspects, but part of me wants to skip over the stress and go straight to next year. So, in today's post, I'm chatting about the ways I love and loathe December (because it's the whole month and not just a day, really, isn't it).

Let's start with the things I love...

Festive Drinks

Who doesn't love a good festive drink? As if hot chocolate wasn't enough of a treat, the coffee shops are now shoving extra syrup and deliciousness in there just because it's bloody December. This, I can get on board with. I have a very sweet tooth and I must admit Starbucks is topping my favourites list this year with their toffee nut offering. I've also tried the gingerbread one (like xmas condensed into liquid) and the usual black forest offering from Costa, though since they've refused to bring back the orange hot chocolate, they're basically dead to me. Any other suggestions welcome!

Buying and Wrapping Presents

This is one part I actually love because I'm a sucker for presentation. I'm that person who will hunt to the ends of the earth for the perfect bow or ribbon, as everything has to be themed. I always go a bit extra for those I particularly love and do enjoy sitting down and wrapping it all. I'm one of those annoying people who likes to make people happy with the things I purchase, even if it means spending more than I intended or practically stalking them to find out what they want.

Food

Yes, this list is basically consumables or material items and I'm ok with that you know. Christmas dinner is basically the only time a year I have a classic British Sunday lunch, but it's better because a) duck fat roast potatoes b) cranberry sauce c) STUFFING. I'll allow it for a single day, but otherwise it can gtfo.

Oh and I also really enjoy a good market and fairy lights. Those things can stay.

Onto what I don't like and a lot of you will probably disagree with these choices, but we can't bloody like everything now, can we?

The Music

Aside from Queen Mariah, Christmas music can honestly get in the sea. I can't stand it. Infact, it makes me cringe almost inside out whenever the word 'Wizard' is mentioned and if I don't have headphones while at the shops, it makes me horrifically stabby. This may be my misophonia, but after working in retail for years and being subjected to the same 10 songs on a loop for an eight hour shift, festive tunes can honestly eff off and never return. And don't get me started on Michael Buble...

Elf

Yes, I said it. I can't stand Love Actually and I found Elf to be one of the worst films I've ever watched. The only ones I allow are the original Home Alone and Die Hard (yes, it's a Christmas film, I will fight you). Films make me cringe 10x harder than music, so I'm glad I don't have normal tv at this time of year. Yes, I'm miserable, shh.

Lack of Personal Space

Everything is so busy at Christmas, isn't it? I went to the Christmas market to snap these photos and it reminded me how much I really value personal space. I honestly cannot bear people touching or banging into me and it makes me shrink my shoulders up in that disgusted sort of way. My general rule is to avoid everything and order online, but I do need to function as a normal human sometimes and venture into town but I treat it like some sort of special forces mission. Get in, get the target and get out.

I have probably reached peak scrooge by this point, but I'm too old to pretend I enjoy something that I don't. My ideal Christmas would be precisely 1hr with my family, food, more dessert/chocolate than a human should be able to eat, home, kitten cuddles and watching a non-festive film with Phil. Done. Boxing Day always involves starting a new game on the Xbox so that tradition can stay, but I'll remove all mentions of Christmas from my life after that until next year.